


The Baby Whisperer

by TiaJuh



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Attempt at Humor, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 13:58:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiaJuh/pseuds/TiaJuh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sebastian and Hanna are having trouble to sleep because their baby won't stop crying and they discover that Kimi Räikkönen is actually pretty good with children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Baby Whisperer

**Author's Note:**

> There's probably some inaccuracies at some point, but forgive the writer for not knowing geography. 
> 
> Other than that, enjoy. :)
> 
> Translation into German is available [here](http://www.fanfiktion.de/s/53011a270002de6a321e5ef9/1/Der-Babyfluesterer), thanks to [Squirrel3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel3/pseuds/Squirrel3)

When Hanna Prater decided she was going to spend the rest of her life next to Sebastian Vettel she knew it wouldn’t be easy. Even before he became a world champion; formula 1 was a really dangerous sport and even with all the safety measures it was always a risk and she knew there wouldn’t be a weekend she wasn’t a little bit worried. Besides that she had to deal with fame and infinite trips all around the world and the fact he was almost never home. But she was ok with all of this. She was happy, Sebastian made her happy.

Now they had a baby, a beautiful baby girl. A tiny human being they made together. Life couldn’t be simpler. They were finally a normal family, with their house and their baby, except… Well, it wasn’t like she wasn’t expecting it. Her mom and her mother-in-law gave her all the advice they could about babies. There would be cramps, and aching teeth, they would be hungry and need diaper change among other things she knew she would have to worry about. Hanna should’ve been prepared for it, but the truth was that the reality was very different from the theory.

The night they brought the baby home was definitely going to be one that neither she nor Sebastian would forget. Mostly because they spent the most of it awake. The baby just wouldn’t stop crying. They tried everything was possible; they fed her, changed her, sang to her, danced with her, even called their moms to find a solution to all that crying, but nothing worked.

“Maybe we should take her to a doctor?” Sebastian suggested, lying face down on the bed, while Hanna moved around the room with the baby cradled on her chest.

“Do you think she’s sick?” she asked, suddenly more worried. “We just got out of the hospital, she was fine…”

“All this crying can’t be normal.”

Turned out it was normal. They took the baby to a doctor who said there was nothing wrong with her.

“Some babies cry more than others, it’s normal.” He said, smiling to the new parents. “It’s a new world for her; give the little lady time to adjust.”

So their baby was a crier. Hanna guessed they would need some little time to adjust too.

And they did. After some sleepless nights, they fell into a comfortable routine and it was good. Hanna soon understood that she would have a full night of sleep again, but she could live with it. And Sebastian… he was the lucky bastard that had to travel every two weeks to work. No way would Hanna let him get away that easy, though. When he was at home he was the one responsible for the night shift. Including diapers change. He would complain and she’d call it ‘restoring life’s balance’.

Life found its way into normality somehow, like it always did, except people decided it was a good time to visit the baby. It had passed sometime, the parents had already settled, right? It was the perfect time to see the little bundle of joy.

“They really have to come?” Hanna asked, trying not to sound as desperate as she felt.

“It’s my family… it’s your family.” Sebastian answered, apologetically.

Hanna could feel it was a bad idea, but she just couldn’t stop people from appearing. It was her mom and dad, Sebastian’s parents, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts and many, many friends. She didn’t blame them, they should be excited about the baby; she was too. Only that her mother instinct was telling her that her baby wouldn’t deal well with that many people come and going every day from their house.

She wished she was wrong.

The first time Sebastian’s sister tried to hold the baby she cried so much Hanna thought she would explode.

“It takes a little time for her to get used to new people.” Hanna said with a tiny smile, while taking the crying baby into her arms.

“At least we know she’s got good lungs.” Norbert -Sebastian’s father - joked, making everyone laugh and Hanna smiled, thankful.

 

***

 

The last person who visited them was Kimi Räikkönen. He promises Sebastian multiple times he would show up, but since they were preparing for the test season and Kimi was still transitioning to Ferrari it took a while before he found time.

Hanna liked Kimi. She knew little about him, only met the guy a few times at races, but he seemed nice. Very straight-forward, didn’t seem to take bullshit from anyone and she liked that in people. Also Sebastian did seem very fond of him and he usually was a very good judge of character.

The day he came to visit was a rather chaotic one. It was a bad night for their little girl and Hanna and Sebastian had spent most of it trying to calm her down and make her sleep. Every time they actually got her to sleep she would wake up 10 minutes later, crying her lungs out. Hanna was walking around the living room, rocking the baby and singing in one more inefficient attempt of making her stop wailing, when she heard the intercom. She looked around, before remembering Sebastian went showering so there was no one else to answer it. Cursing under her breath, she pressed the little blue button to answer the call.

“Yes?” she asked in her more controlled tone, trying to listen through her baby’s cry.

“Ms. Prater? Mr. Räikkönen is here to see Mr. Vettel.” Victor, the gateman, informed and Hanna sighed. She had totally forgotten about this.

“Let him in.” Hanna tried to smooth her hair in the mirror with only one hand, before she went to answer the door.

“Hi!” she tried her best smile, even though she was sure her tired face was betraying her. Kimi smiled back, eyeing the crying girl on her left shoulder.

“Is it a bad time?” he asked politely, but Hanna shook her head negatively, and made a sign for him to come in. “I can come back another day if…”

“No, it’s alright.” She hurriedly reassured him. Kimi still looked a little bit uncertain, but didn’t say anything else about the matter. He indicated the package he was holding.  
“I brought something.” He explained in his abnormally monotone voice. “My mom picked it…”

“Thank you, it’s very sweet of you.” Hanna answered, taking the package and putting it on the sofa. “I’d open it, but…” She indicated the baby with a tired smile and Kimi nodded.

They stared at each other, a silence that was a little awkward stretching between them.

“Sebastian is in the shower, he will be out soon.” She answered an unspoken question.

“I didn’t come here exactly to see him…” Hanna almost smacked herself on the forehead.

“Oh, yes, of course. The baby.” She said with a chuckle, like it was possible to forget about her baby. “It was a bad night for her, well, for us really. In fact I’m just waiting for Sebastian to come out so he can take her and I can take a shower.”

“I can take her.” Hanna was so taken aback by the offer she gapped a couple of times. She was sure she looked like an idiot, but she couldn’t help herself. Was Kimi Räikkönen offering to take care of her baby? “I used to take care of my nephews all the time when they were little. It won’t be a problem.”

Hanna pondered the idea for a few seconds. She really needed a shower and there was a good soul offering her a break. As crazy as the idea sounded, she wasn’t going to dismiss the opportunity just like that. She looked at Kimi as she was asking if he was sure, but he just shrugged.

“She’s not fond of strangers.” The girl was resting silently on her shoulder now and Hanna was giving Kimi a last chance to withdraw the offer, but he shrugged again. She was starting to notice where Sebastian picked that bad habit. Before she could say anything else, he was already taking the baby from her arms. “Oh, ok-”

Kimi wasn’t paying attention to her, though. He was already adjusting the girl in his arms. It didn’t take 10 seconds before she started wailing again. Hanna shoot him an apologetically look, expecting him to be at least a little uncomfortable, but he was making little hushing sounds at the girl, rocking her a little. It was her turn to shrug. He would probably survive 5 minutes with a crying baby. In that moment her mind was in the hot shower waiting for her. Besides, Sebastian would be out soon, so it would be ok.

  
***

 

Hanna was finally feeling like a human being again. She was clean and relaxed and her hair wasn’t a mess. 24 hours without a shower could make a woman go crazy. She was definitely ready for another challenging night. Taking a deep breath, Hanna left the room. She was so calm she didn’t notice how silent the house was until she got to the corridor that led to the living room and saw Sebastian standing there. He was peering towards the living room, apparently trying not to be seeing, judging by the way he was standing. Hanna approached him slowly, but he jumped as she touched his shoulder anyway.

“What’s wrong-”

“Sssssshhhhh.” Sebastian quickly shushed her and pointed to the living room. Hanna, who was looking at her partner with a confused look on her face, turned to where he was pointing. The sight had so many unbelievable aspects that Hanna thought she was still under the shower, hallucinating from tiredness. In this hallucination Kimi Räikkönen was in their living room, holding her daughter and the said daughter was actually sleeping. He was pacing around the living room, lulling the little girl to sleep. She looked tiny cradled in his big arms, but peaceful, like she hadn’t in days.

“ _How did he…?_ ” Hanna whispered still a little in shock.

“ _I know._ ” Sebastian whispered back.

“ _I mean, she’s-_ ”

“ _I know._ ”

“ _Is he singing?_ ”

Sebastian turned to answer her, but Kimi finally noticed them standing on the corridor, whispering to each other. He made a sign for them to keep quiet and the couple approached him and their sleeping daughter.

“She slept right after you left.” He informed in a low tone.

“How did you manage that?” Hanna asked, still looking baffled and Kimi made a face as he didn’t understand the question. “How did you make her sleep? We’ve been trying for days.”

Kimi shrugged. Hanna didn’t know if it was endearing or annoying.

“You’re a miracle-worker.” Sebastian whispered, looking at the little girl asleep in his friend’s arms.

“You should probably take her to her crib now…”

“No!” Sebastian and Hanna said at the same time, a little too loud, and Kimi shushed them again.

“Sorry… no. She looks so comfortable there.” Hanna said in a lower voice.

“You know I can’t hold your daughter forever.” Kimi tried to reason with them, but the other two looked desperate.

“Please, we just need a moment of silence and peace in this house.” Sebastian begged. “Just 20 more minutes?”

Kimi stared at the two standing in front of him, looking at him with pleading eyes, before nodding.

“20 minutes. My arms are cramping already.” Hanna did a little happy dance and Sebastian looked like he wanted to kiss him, but stopped himself.

“Why don’t we all sit, have a nice chat?” The woman suggested and the other two men agreed. Kimi sat in one of the big fancy chair they kept in the living room while the couple took the sofa.

They talked work for a while, before Hanna changed the subject to Minttu, and then they were talking about family and how Kimi wanted kids of his own.

“So you love kids?” Hanna asked, without holding a yawn. “Sorry.”

“You should see him with kids at the races; he’s really good with them.” Sebastian commented and Kimi gave a shy smile.

“I always liked kids. I like to spend time with my nephews when I have time.” He began, looking at the sleeping baby in his arms. “They’re just easier to deal with. They’re sincere and they don’t have all the bullshit that adults do. They’re themselves without apologizing for it. It’s nicer, you know?” Kimi lift his eyes to the two sitting on the sofa, to see that they had fallen asleep. Hanna was resting his head on Sebastian’s shoulder while the latter had let his had fall to the back of the sofa, and was snoring with his mouth open. They were probably very tired.

Kimi sighed, before getting up and taking the girl to her crib.

“You have very silly parents.” He said as he lowered the girl into her crib. She stirred a little, but didn’t wake up. “But they love you very much, so let them sleep once in a while, ok? You don’t want your dad to meet a wall because he hasn’t been sleeping.”

The girl snuggled her blanket as Kimi turned off the light and left the room.

 

***

  
 _A few days later…_

“We should call him.” Hanna said but Sebastian shook his head negatively.

“He’ll just say no.” He answered, but Hanna wasn’t ready to give up.

“We should try anyway.” Sebastian hesitated and she tried again. “We could bribe him. You could buy him a car.”

“ _Really?_ ” Sebastian didn’t know they were _that_ desperate.

“What? You have enough money to buy him a formula 1 team. What’s car?” He rolled his eyes at his partner, but she didn’t stop. “It’s been THREE days; I’m a desperate woman, Seb. I just need 20 minutes of sleep.”

Hanna was actually pouting. Sebastian couldn’t resist that face. Also, the fact that their daughter was screaming her lungs out again, helped. He picked the phone and scrolled until he reached the letter ‘R’. This was going to be an interesting conversation.

“Kimi.” The hoarse voice came from the other end.

“Hm, were you sleeping?” Sebastian asked, hesitantly.

“Sebastian? It’s… almost 3 am. You better have a good reason to be calling me this late. Or early.” Kimi could sound really intimidating for someone who usually spoke with almost no inflection.

“It’s our daughter.”

“Is she ok?” Kimi sounded more alert now. Sebastian would dare to say he was worried.

“She’s… crying again.” There was a silence. “Kimi?”

“I don’t understand how this is my problem.” He was starting to sound irritated again.

“Look, it’s been three days and you’re the only person we know that can calm her down. Plus, you live close.”

“Close?! It’s a two hour drive to the country, Sebastian!” He was shouting now. “At 3 am!”

Hanna looked at her partner, giving him the thumbs up and he smiled weakly.

“You’re right, you’re absolutely right, but I wouldn’t be calling if we really didn’t need your help.” Another silence. Sebastian waited.

“I’m not your baby whisperer.” Kimi sighed. “I’ll be there soon.”

“Have I told you how you’re the best friend I ever had?”

“Shut up.”

Kimi arrived a little after 6 am. Hanna was sitting curled up in a ball on the big chair on the living room, while Sebastian paced around with his daughter in his arms. They both sighed in relief at the sight of their friend, but Kimi just rolled his eyes. Without a word he discarded his coat, went to the bathroom to wash his hands and when he came back he took the baby from Sebastian’s arms.

“Your parents are so useless.” He told to the girl as he rocked her. Sebastian sat next to Hanna, on the arm of the chair and they both watched the other man lull their girl.

In less than 10 minutes she had stop crying and after 25 she was asleep. Hanna couldn’t believe her eyes. It was like magic.

“It’s unbelievable.” She said from her spot in the chair. “It’s like you have superpowers.”

“She’s such a nice girl.” Kimi whispered, smiling at the baby.

Sebastian got up and stretched lazily.

“I think it’s a good time for us to go to bed…” He started, but Kimi shook his head.

“First you’re going to make me breakfast.” He said point towards the kitchen. “I didn’t drive all the way here to put your kid to sleep and starve.”

“I think it’s only fair.” Hanna agreed as she got up and dragged a reluctant Sebastian to the kitchen.

“But the whole point of him being here was to give us a chance to sleep.” He whined as Hanna pushed him in the direction of the coffee maker.

“We made him come here to do us a favor; we might as well do something for the poor guy.”

Sebastian didn’t seem too happy, but he started to help her.

In the end they managed to make a pretty decent breakfast in half hour. After they set the breakfast table in the kitchen, Hanna went to find Kimi, but he wasn’t in the living room anymore. After a quick search she found him in the baby’s room, sitting on Hanna’s breastfeeding chair.  
He was still holding her daughter, who was sleeping calmly on his chest, fast asleep. Hanna couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Most time Kimi looked like this tough guy, the ‘iceman’, but there he was, holding a baby like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Hanna was about to turn to find her phone to take a picture, when Sebastian approached her.

“Where’s Kimi?” He asked and she shushed him, pointing at the scene. Sebastian made a weird noise, between appreciation and disgust.

“Can we keep him?” Hanna asked, in a low voice.

“I don’t think he would agree.”

“We could make him honorary parent. Maybe he could be her godfather. They already get along so well.”

“We can propose it after he wakes up.” Sebastian agreed.

Hanna entered the room and took the baby off Kimi’s arm and put her on the crib.

“We’re just gonna leave him there?” Sebastian asked after Hanna took him by the hand and led him to their room.

“Yeah, he can take care of her if she wakes up.” She plopped herself onto the bed unceremoniously. “Now we’re going to sleep.”

Sebastian lied next to her and she snuggled close to him.

“Do we still have that house that was only 10 minutes from Kimi’s place?” Hanna asked after a few minutes.

“Yes?” Sebastian answered confused.

“We could move there for a few months...”

“Hanna?” Sebastian tried.

“Yeah, babe?”

“Let’s sleep.”

Hanna laughed and kissed him on the cheek.


End file.
